Caught on cam: Officers save man after heart attack during workout

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. (WSB TV) — Two Canton police officers are being hailed as heroes for saving a man's life when he had a heart attack at a CrossFit gym.

Officers Jimmy Butler and Patrick Duncan were dispatched to the gym on the 800 block of Hickory Flat Highway just before 5 p.m. on April 26, where they found a 41-year-old man who had collapsed during a workout.

Justin Marion was in the middle of a barbell lift when he slumped to the floor.

Channel 2's Tom Regan was the only reporter to talk with Marion about the moment he almost lost his life.

"I had no warning," he said. "I was not breathing. My heart stopped. I didn't know what had happened, where it happened."

Gym co-owner Karen Camps rushed over to him and started CPR.

Officer Patrick Duncan and Officer Jimmy Butler

"He went down, I checked his pulse. No pulse and he was blue," she said. "I kept yelling at him, 'You can do it. Take a breath and I'll stop pounding on you.'"

Burtler and Duncan arrived quickly and hooked up a mobile defibrillator.

"He was unresponsive on the floor. Cold and sweaty," Butler said.

The officers' body cameras captured the moment they shocked him back to life.

"The AED we had, and the shock from that and the CPR, thankfully we brought him back," Butler said.

Marion is expected to make a full recovery from his heart attack.

"I woke up in the hospital and the doctor was telling me how lucky I was to be alive," Marion said.

He says after this experience, he believes every police officer in the state should have an AED.

"If he didn't have that, I may not be here," he said.

Canton's police chief agrees.

"We're working to outfit all our patrol units with this, and if we save just one person, it's worth the money," Chief Mark Mitchell said.

At Thursday night's meeting, the Canton City Council will take a vote on whether to buy another 17 AEDs for patrol units.

Next month, they'll have a ceremony to salute the officers and give Marion the opportunity to say thank you.